Papon Trial Switches from 1942 to
1961

The
Café La Colonade in the Square du Louvre.

"France Washes Dirty Laundry in
Public"France-Soir Headline

Paris:- Saturday, 18. October 1997:- Maurice
Papon, who is on trial charged with 'crimes against
humanity' for his war-time role in the arrest and
deportation to Nazi death camps of 1,560 French Jews from
the Bordeaux region, last weekend had a calm and
comfortable time at a first-class château-hôtel
in the Médoc.

This upset a lot of people, including the mayor of the
town where the château is located. Two of the lawyers
for the civil plaintiffs quit the case in disgust. The rest
decided to stay on.

Mr. Papon was asked to quit the
château-hôtel and for the rest of the week
there were radio reports about his difficulties in finding
lodgings.

On Monday, Mr. Papon returned to court and took his
place in the box, behind bullet-proof glass. One of the
lawyers who quit on Friday, Arno Klarsfeld,
also returned to court for the case of the plaintiffs,
after judicial authorities announced they were to examine
the circumstances of the defendant's release.

This process, which is one I do not understand, is
likely to be largely symbolic, as the 'barn door is already
open.' If found guilty, Mr. Papon will appeal, and until
the result of this eventual appeal is known, he will now
remain free.

TV-news showed families of the victims demonstrating
outside the court, carrying signs with inscriptions such
as, "Albert Fogiel, six years old; convoy number 42," which
refers to the number of the last, and perhaps only, train
the six year-old took from Bordeaux.

On Tuesday, the entire text of the accusation was read
out in court. On this day, Maurice Papon's lawyers were
telling the court the only place he could safely stay was
in the box in the courtroom, behind the bullet-proof glass
- and they even appealed to journalists for aid in finding
lodging - which was, of course, reported far and wide.

This side-show is sort of obscuring the debate in the
courtroom; which on Tuesday was to be a exposition of the
character of the accused. The court-appointed psychiatrist
said he could not say much because the accused would not
talk to him. Papon reportedly said, "Je ne suis pas
fou."

On Wednesday, Mr. Papon told the court that he, "had
risked deportation and perhaps his life by striking the
names of 139 Jews off," [the deportation orders]. This went
on for three hours, in a firm voice, as those in the court
remained silent, according to its rules.

This was not going according to the plan of the trail.
Mr. Papon had merely been asked if he recalled laying a
wreath at a Jewish memorial in 1965.

In fact, the way the trial is unrolling is a bit
bewildering. In order to shed light on the accused's
personality, all sorts of events are being discussed - and
the most explosive of the week were those surrounding the
17. October 1961 massacre while Mr. Papon was police
Prefect for Paris.

The official history says that three were killed; but
most historians believe 200 perished; mostly Algerians - by
the hands of the police. Yesterday the Minister of Culture,
Catherine Trautmann, said the official files would be
opened to scrutiny.

Former Prime Minister, Pierre Messmer, Interior Minister
in 1961, said that "France was at war with Algeria" at the
time and letting FLN Algerians demonstrate in Paris while
there were 500,000 French troops fighting in Algeria,
"Was a knife in the back." He also said that Papon should
have resigned his wartime Bordeaux post, but should not be
blamed for following orders of the Fifth Republic in
Paris.

Olivier Guichard, a former Prime Minister and a
long-time aide to General de Gaulle, said at the Papon
trial, "The Gaullist myth started in 1940 by saying the
Vichy regime didn't exist," and that this 'myth' was
reinforced by another, "France won the war."

Other character witnesses paraded through the court
during the week. Former Prime Minister Raymond Barre was
content with Papon's services as Minister of the Budget in
1978; when asked he said he had not known of Papon's past
history in Bordeaux.

At the weekend, Maurice Papon was allowed to leave the
Bordeaux area, to return to his family property in
Seine-et-Marne. The trial continues next week.

Note: I am reading different sources for these reports
and I want to point out that figures vary somewhat from
source to source. If you are following this case in other
media, you will probably have figures which differ from
mine.

Web sites devoted to the History and Trial of
Maurice Papon

The Matisson
family were the first to launch a civil case against
Maurice Papon, in 1981. Jean-Marie Matisson runs the
website, and reports from the courtroom. At the website,
click on 'Affaire Papon.'

Another website of interest contains daily coverage of
the trial by the Bordeaux paper, the Sud
Ouest.

Sports News

It is a long time since I have seen a game of basketball
and I do not recall whether I have ever seen a professional
game played. In fact, I am not sure basketball is a
professional sport or some sort of merchandizing franchise.

At any rate, there was basketball fever in Paris on
Friday night after Paris-Saint-Germain beat Barcelona on
Thursday, to win a chance to take on the Chicago Bulls, in
Paris' very own omnisports palace at Bercy.

After the cold indifference to the excellent match
between the Atenas de Cordoba of Argentina and Olympiakos
Piraeus which Olympiakos won 89 to 86, the crowd of 15,515
- including Prime Minister Lionel Jospin - made a sound
like 20,000 when the 15 giants of the Chicago Bulls entered
the court at 21:12.

When the game was over the score was 89 to 82 for the
Bulls, which earned them the right to play tonight against
Olympiakos Piraeus of Greece. I have not heard how that
came out so I assume that Olympiakos did not win.